Grand Prairie: More than once during the wildly successful opening night for Major League Cricket (MLC), I heard crowd members say, in wondrous disbelief, that they couldn’t believe this was actually happening… that MLC had really done it.
They had planned a high-level domestic T20 league, renovated an old baseball stadium (which looked incredible, by the way), attracted top-level talent and staged a delirious party for the 7200-plus at Grand Prairie Stadium on the opening night. The theme of the night was a dream no one wanted to end. Fans smiled as they entered the park and kept smiling. Even the Los Angeles Knight Riders fans, who saw their side suffer a big defeat, couldn’t keep the smiles off their faces, having witnessed cricketing history.
To be clear, the night was in no way perfect or even smooth, but it showed that cricket has found another viable market in the US just waiting to be cultivated, to be marketed and sold to. And it’s meant to entertain. While maybe some of the cliched expectations of what a cricket crowd in the US would look like, I didn’t have to dig deep to unearth folks who defied such easy and lazy categorization.
The organizers will not be entirely satisfied with how the night went, especially in the beginning. The parking situation was pretty disastrous. In the end, however, many patrons might have found the delays worth it, since attendants abandoned the rather expensive parking scheme and eventually started waving cars in for free (that is a big win, since $20 for parking is completely unreasonable).
Locals love it
Entry into the ground was even worse. The renovations to the stadium meant that only one side of the ground was being used for entry, funneling all 7200 of us into maybe half a dozen lines. Movement was, to be generous, snail-like. However, the mood in that queue, even as we missed the opening of the match, was jovial. It was here that I met Dale and Christian, a couple from Bastrop, Texas (a small town of about 10,000 people four hours away from Grand Prairie). They had learned about cricket during the pandemic and were fans of the women’s game and couldn’t wait to see their first game live.
I later saw them again between innings and they were having a wonderful time taking in the sights and sounds of the game and were already making plans to drive back up for the final matches. I also met Dave, a fan decked out in Australia gear who drove down from Nashville, Tennessee (about a 10-hour drive), and who was another pandemic convert to cricket. He spoke with the joy of someone who couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing, as if a long-running dream or visualization had finally found its way to the material world.
Eventually, much like the parking situation, those in charge started waving people through the gates and lines began to dissipate. In fact, no one actually ever scanned my ticket. I also know of at least one claim of fans getting into the ground without tickets.
Festive atmosphere
Once inside, though, everything clicked into place. The atmosphere was ebullient throughout, even if maybe some people tired in the relentless heat. A group of drummers roamed the concourses, celebrating boundaries and wickets with equal vigour. Event organizers gave away TSK and LAKR flags to fans, and fans swung them back and forth ceaselessly, waves of yellow or purple depending on the outcome of any particular ball. Everyone I spoke with raved openly about the atmosphere and the crowd. It felt cathartic, like so much pent up energy had been waiting for the opportunity to express itself, to make itself felt by the world around it, to multiply and spread its joy to everyone in the ground.
The game itself may have been the least important part of the night. Texas Super Kings set a target of 182, and opinion seemed split on whether LA could successfully chase it, but after losing five wickets in 5.2 overs, the outcome was all but decided. When Andre Russell departed for a well-fought 55, it was certain. Even still, LA supporters seemed in good spirits on the way out of the ground, as if they, too, knew that the on-field results were a tiny part of the spectacle.
Question of sustenance
That has to change, however, if MLC is to truly find its footing in this sports market. You might be able to start a league on vibes (and tons of cash), but you can’t sustain one that way. The real struggle starts when the spectacle wears off. We might find out more about the future of the league in Day 2, when the home team isn’t playing, when the doubleheader starts at 3:30pm local time on a workday, and when the Game 1 temperature hovers around 40 degrees.
A quick look at the ticketing website shows maybe 2000 tickets remaining for Day 2 games. There are still hurdles to be jumped, and a huge opening push sustains momentum for only so long. But, for at least one night, Major League Cricket captured the hearts and imaginations of a dreaming American crowd that had no interest in waking up.